Automatic stoker.



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AUTOMATIGVSTOKEB. APPLICATION FILED FEB.. 28, 1906:.

Patented May 16, 19.11.

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w. J. KENN-BY. AUTOMATIC STOKER. APPLICATION TILIBVD FEB. 28, 1908.'

Patented May-16, 1911. V 'a sHBBTsfsHEBT a.

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W. J. KBNNEY. AUTOMATIG'STOKBR.

APPLICATION FILED 1118.28, 1906 992,207, Patented May 16, 1911.

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' UNITED sTArEs PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM. J. KENNEY., F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS-1 ASSIGNOR TO UNDER-FEED STOKER COMPANY 0F AMERICA, OF CHICAGO; ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

a citizenpf the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatic Stokers,v

of which the following is a full, clear, conoise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of-this specification.

My linvention relates to stokers, particularly to underfeed stokers and contemplates improved features of construction and arrangement therefor, whereby the efficiency `thereof may be greatly increased.

.Where stokers of this class are used, a great deal of trouble has been experienced in the cracking of the boiler front caused by having square openings through which the stoker projects, but my invention ro- Vides for a circular opening which eliminates such cracking. Also in stokers of this class the base of the retort slanted upwardly and rearwardly which necessitated a correspondingly slanted pusher rod which connected with the horizontally reciprocating ram. The pusher rod was therefore usually hinged to an endA piecel by means of a bolt, which end piece was adjustably connected to an extension from the ram usually by means of a bolt, land the entire strain and distortion was taken up by the bolts which soon became worn, bent or broken. My invent-ion, however, provides foi-,a retort having a horizontal base which'acllows the use of a horizontal pusher rod, and the connection with the ram head mayft-herefore. bc greatly simplied. and I use bolts merely.l for holding the connecting parts together, but the push of the ram head is directly against and longitudinal of the pusher rod. I also reduce theA outlet of the hopper and the length vof stroke of the ram head but increase the rate of travel of the ramvhead.

Less coal will.l therefore, be necessary and the re will oftener be agitated and the coal in the furnace brought into contact with air to a greater extent than formerly. Shorteniig of the ram stroke also shortens the stroke of the piston head and this, together with the fact that the straight pusher rod which I employ7 'requires very much less power to operate, enables me to operate the Stoker Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1911.

Application-filed February 28, 1906. Serial 'Nol 303,388.

the rain chamber and hopper by providing T a specially designed detlecting plate which is connected with the air supply and has openings adapted to direct the air to checkmate'the gases which otherwise would escape into the ram case and out into the hopper. This deflecting plate or frame is also shaped to better deflect the coal upwardly and to prevent packing at the end of the ram case and entrance to the retort.

Several other features are also provided by my invention which will be better understood when described with reference to the accompanying drawin -in which- Fignre 1 shows a side view of the front end of'a boiler and inclosing wall with the under-feed stoker of my invention associated therewith, the walls beingin section. Fig. 2 is a front view of the boiler and stoker mechanism. Fig. 3' is a top .view of the st'oker mechanism alone. .Fig 4f is a sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

' Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a top view of the pusher rod connecting block. Fig. 7 is a 'sectional View taken on line 7 7 of Fig. 4 showing the top view of the pusher' rod connection with the connecting block. and Fig. 8 is a front view of the deflccting frame.

The boiler 1 is suitably mounted upon a setting 2 and is adapted to receive heat generated in the re chamber 3. The boiler front plate 4 is disposed before the sett-ing 2 and has the circular opening 5 for accommodating the Stoker mechanism, and the fire doorsf-G. rl'.`he retort 7'has a circular neck 8 within the opening 5 and at its rear end has the projections 9 and 10 theprojection-10 being supported in the wal] 11. Disposed along the sides ofthe retort chamber and' mounted on the shelves 12 and 13 are the twyer blocks 14, said twyer blocks having extensions 15I projecting through the shelves 'and provided with openings for receiving the twyer rods 16. The shelves 12 andl 13' Whichmay be integral with the retort. bodyv or separate' plates as shown, assist' in supporting the deads plates I7 which extend from the twyer blocks to the side walls of the furnace chamber. The base 18 this' rod at its rear end extending through 'the' opening-20 through the extension .9 and rovided at suitable points'with pusher rod blocks 21 secured thereto in asuitable manthe. iiiing doors. -The upper partof the.

eXpanded-togl ner.v The twyer blocks andv dead plates,

however, are in a plane which slants down' wardly toward the rear instead of 1n a horizontal plane, as was heretofore the case, .and I find that -loy this arrangement there 1s more available space for the combustion of Gases, and the operation is otherwise greatly improved.

Directly abovethe entrance lto the 'retort w I arrange the deflecting frame- 22 which serves very useful purposes. y' Theconstruction of this frame is best shown inv Fig. 8, it having the' front edge 23 forengaging with the ledge 24 at the front of the retort frame, the front-25gof the deliectingA frameabutting against the furnace front plate."4. The lower wall 26 slants upwardlyfrom the front and curves upwardly and rearf v Wardly at its end to properly ,deflect and. guide the incoming fuel upwardly toward l the twyer blocksf In advance of the. twyer blocks proper on each side of lthe retort i twyers are always covered' and protected; by -fresh coal. Concentration vof heat. at this are the lblank twy'er blocks 27 which have no air outlets, and owing toi th`e 'upward vslant of the deflecting frame` these blank ppint and burningo'utJ-of the-blanktwyer -b ocks, asv was heretofore the case,is, there-A fore, prevented. The rear end of the deflect-v` ing frame has also theridge 28- rllhis ridge being of metal,}preventsfadhesion of clinke'rs whichwilltake place'if the clinkers would Afajll away fromthis'point and 'canhb'e more *readily removed,` v.At each side is an eXtension 29 corresponding in shape to the twyer blocks. The entire'f-deiecting frame ishollow :and i's-V connected with lthe air-l supply source'. .The lowerxwall ofthe frame has a .parti'ofg the deflecting frame and'then is div"escape 'into the ram chamber and outA .rected through-these openings downwardly and rearwardlyagainst the gases in this part offthe retort which wouldvotherwise tend to through the retort. -Deflectin'g platesor ribs l 28 are provided for-causing the air to pass through theridge '28 which is thereby kept The'ramA chamber or Abarrel 31 is secured V at its front end to the steam cylinder- 32 and at its rear end terminates in the flangef33 which abuts against the furnace front plate 4 about the circular'opening 5, being suits.

.distance'into the retort.

Disposedwithin the ram head and secured ably secured in 'this position, the wall 4being between the flange 33 .and` the retort` front. Directly to ther-ear of the flange 33 and at the top of the ram` casge is the hopper opening 34 over which is secured the hopper 35, this hopper being quite narrowV along its lower part 36 to prevent .interference with hopper, however, is sufficiently d receive a proper amount' of fuel..

. The piston head 37 reciproca-tes .within the struction of thesevarious parts is such that when the piston is atthe front end oflits stroke the ram head lies at the'front'fof the` ram vcase and directly-in front 4ofthe-hopper outlet,"a`nd'When the piston is at theA rear end of its stroke the'ram head will be at the j rear endof the ram case, projecting a slight to the lower part thereof is the pusher rod g I connecting block 40, as best shown in Fig. 4. This block comprises the body part 41. secured to the ram wall by t-he bolts or rivopening 44 ofV the rarnhead to'be engaged by the nut 45.* From the rear end vvof the body part 'ay lug 46 extends downwardly through the slot/47 in .the ram wall and en-f gages the front edge of this slot', the'entire connecting block being thus securely held to f The ets *42, the body part terminatingv in a threaded extension 43 passing through thev d lug 46, also passes through the 'slot through the lower wall of the ram case,'and

reciprocates therewith back and forth in said slot. The pusher rod 19A extends -as the ram head reciprocates, this projection through the opening 49 in the front end of j the .retort and through the opening 50-i1if the'. flange 33 of the ramcase.. iAs best shown" in Fig. '7, the front end of the pusher rod and'52,of the `connecting lpiece 53 bynieans is H attened'and secured between the legs of bolts 54, the body part of this connecting piece havingan opening 55-into'which' thelug 46 eloselyfits and secured therein: by bolt 56.. The entire thrustand pull of the connecting block 40 on. 'the push rodgis di# f: rectly through the lconnecting. .piece 53x against the rod, and the bolts lare entirely free from strain other` than that merelytol l holdthe parts together. In devicesjwhere vvthe' pusher rod slants instead of beinghoriaontally disposed, as herein, the entire strain 1s taken lup by bolts which becomeloose and lworn,thus introducing lost motion, or eventually becomebroken and a great deal more power is necessary to operate the pusher rod.`

I find that by increasing the number of strokes 'per minute of the ramhead and decreating the outlet opening'of the lhopper.

that much .less coal is necessary for obtaining thesame' results.' This'short strokcfcw ture combined'with my 4improved arrangement. of the pusher .rod mechanismalso-enables me tooperate the stoking mechanism with greatly reduced pressure, thereby econ# omizing in steam o1..other power which drives the system... Increased number of strokes. ,per minute alsojneans'that the' fire will be more often 'a itated' and `the coal brought incontact wit air to a greater extent. vThe short strokev combined with the feature of having the hopper opening close'.

'to the retort entrance and my"improved' deflector plate cooperate ialso.; to 'prevent packing4 *ofl the'f'fuel at the, entrance-of the retort.; The short stroke arrangement also allows thev cylinder and ram case to shortened, vthus greatly reducing the space occupied by departingfrom the spirit oflvthein-ventionl.

i What-Iclaim'as ewYand-desi'reto secure by Letters Patent is: 'l I n .y l. In combination with, a furnace,fa retort.

` disposed within the'furnace,charging mechl anismforffeeding. fuel into the retort, a de-vv fleeting frame vdisposed approximate to the Adirecting Q frame, t

entrance of the retort, said deflecting `frame. being hollow and havingcompartments fori'A connectionwith'the air supply for the furnace, ribs within said deflecting frame for the airaupwardly tothe top of the erebeing openingsfromsaid frame for directing air-'into the retort to prevent tlie-*eseap'e'of gases through'the lretort en-` trance.'

retort disposed-within the furnace, charging .mechanism disposed" outside of the furnace l for feeding fuel into the retort, a deflec'tor frame roofing over the entrance of theretort for delecting fuel, said deflector being madev hollow and being adapfd to be Aconl'iecte'd with the air supply for .thefurnace, said deflector framebeing provided with a ridge.

forI pieventingjthe adhesion of clinkers thereto, ribs within'y said deflector frame for directing the air toward the saidridge to thereby cool said ridge, there being openings through the lower wall of the frame for `directing air downwardly and rearwardly to' blow the'gasesaway1 from the retort entranceto prevent. their Aescape through said entrance.

the stoking. mechanism in front. A of the`boiler., y v Y As ,before stated, where a square opening of. travel of vsaid pusher rod vbeing with thelineoftravel ofthe ram. y. l

3. In. combination .with a furnace, of. a. retortv disposed within the furnace, mea-ns 'fory feeding fuel intothe retort, aj'deflecting frame disposed adjacent to the entrance'of the retort, said defiecting frameY beingv hollow,'there being air inlet portsto said frame and air outlet ports, and ribs 'within the frame for deflecting the'air as it passes from the inlet ports to the outletports. 4. In combination with a' furnace, of a retort disposed Within the furnace,'means for feeding fuel into the retort, a hollow deflecting framelying above"l the retort at the entrance thereof, the underl surface of ,said deflecting frame extending'l rearwardly and upwardly, said frame having lair inletports and also having outlet ports disposed at the y I ,j'gafses away from the retort entrance and pre-v -ve'nt their escape through said entrance.' l 1 .5. 'In an automatic stoking mechanism, a' I retort, a ram for forcing fuel intosaid re-v `front and back walls of said retort, the front piece abut-ting againstV said shoulders, trans- ,jyers'e bolts for securing said connecting piece 'to said rod, and means for rigidly securing said Connecting piece to said ram, the line parallely 6, In. an automatic,stokingmechanismja #retort having a horizontal bottom,a ramfor forcing fuel into said retort movable in a tlirection parallel with the bottoxr1`"`o'f the re` torna pusher rod extending through' the re-V tort'elese to and parallel with the bottom of the retort,- said pusher rod `having `bearings g'inthej-frontandrear walls of the retort,V a

connecting piecerigidly secured to saidiim,

.sindv connecting piece fand' said rod having engagingfacesfat right angles'y--to the direction jof movement; oft-hearam, and trans verse bolts rigidly connectingsaidsrodand n vsaidcnnecting piecetogether. 1 42. In combination .witha furnace, 'of am fTgInim automatic stoking1"'xne'chanism', 'a retort,r a ram for forcing fuel into the retort, afpushe'r rod slidably mounted. inthe. retort so as to be movable in a line parallelwithV the line .of movement of the ram, said pusher rod having-a part cont Lining" an opening `therethrough transverse-to the direction of movement, a member rigidly secured to the ram" and fitting into `said opening, and a bolt. passing through the portion of said. member lying within said opening..

8. vIn an; automatic,V stoking mechanism^,\a retort, a ram for forcing `fuel into' Said retort, a pusher rod slida ly: mounted inthe retort so vas to be movable along a line," parallel with thel line of tra\ 'el' of the ram, a

connecting piece rigidly secured tothe ram, said connecting piece and said vpusher rod.

1torta'pusher rod slidably mounted inthe' 'endof said pusher lrod being reduced to. Ijform transverse shoulders, `a 'connecting hving trahsv'rse cgagihg -faces fof tiajns mtting th thrust from 'the connecting piece 

